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MacNairs + Wilson

Mortgages More Affordable in Scotland than Rest of UK

New research by Bank of Scotland has revealed that homeowners in Scotland pay a fifth (20%) of their disposable income towards their mortgage each month. This proportion has almost halved compared to 2007.

Disposable income spent on mortgage payments in Scotland is 9% less than the rest of the UK (29%) making it the second most affordable place in the UK after Northern Ireland (19%). Mortgage affordability has only marginally deteriorated (19.7% in 2016 to 20.1% in 2017), despite the first interest rate in recent years and house prices in Scotland rising by 7% in the last 12 months.

Five out of the ten most affordable Local Authority Districts (LAD) in the UK are in Scotland. Inverclyde is now Scotland’s most affordable location and is the UK’s second most affordable after Copeland in North West England. Inverclyde made the jump from fifth most affordable at the end of 2016 to Scotland’s most affordable with mortgage payments taking up 15.7% of disposable income. North Ayrshire (15.9%), West Dunbartonshire (16.2%), Renfrewshire (16.4%), and East Ayrshire (16.6%) also feature in the UK’s ten most affordable locations.

Over the last 12 months there has been a 7% increase in house prices in Scotland which has led to a marginal decrease in mortgage affordability. However, the recent increase in the Bank of England base rate at the end of last year appears to have had little impact on mortgage rates so far. Bank of Scotland highlights however that if rates were to rise over the course of 2018 this could impact the 46% of UK households who have a mortgage either on a standard variable rate or tracker rate with potentially higher payments.